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The value of research for human society, and the trust that the public places in science and the scientific and technological process, are vitally dependent on research integrity. 

The State University of New York (SUNY) and the Research Foundation for SUNY (RF) are committed to excellence, objectivity, accountability, professional courtesy, fairness, good stewardship, and – above all – integrity in the conduct of scholarly research. 

Research university systems, such as SUNY, are special places where knowledge creation through research and scholarship expands and enriches the process of knowledge dissemination through teaching and learning, each component acting together to amplify the co-benefits for people and society. It is in such institutions that the “leaders of each new generation are nurtured; it is there that boundaries to our existing knowledge are explored and crossed; it is there that unfettered thinking can thrive and unconstrained intellectual partnerships can be created. It is there, within each new class, within each new generation, that the future is forged.”

It is a privilege to be able to conduct research and scholarship at SUNY and connect these vital activities with the academic and public service missions of the system. In this light, the research process itself must be transparent and our researchers must take responsibility for assuring the trustworthiness of their research. Freedom of inquiry, openness to new ideas, a love of learning, and a commitment to rigorous study are the necessary components for first-class research and scholarship. SUNY researchers should not avoid difficult or controversial areas, since it is often in these areas that the greatest societal contributions are made. It is professional integrity that allows such new scholarship to be debated, criticized, attacked, defended, digested, and accepted by the scientific community and society, thereby adding to the corpus of human knowledge. When properly exercised, academic freedom, and the concomitant commitment to rigor and excellence, yields the knowledge base on which tomorrow’s society depends.

SUNY seeks to reaffirm and maintain its full commitment to integrity in research. This commitment will incorporate regular review and update of existing policies with the following principles in mind.